ISLAMABAD: The sixth review of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) would be presented to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) board on January 12.
In this regard, Finance Ministry Spokesperson Muzzammil Aslam tweeted, “I am pleased to confirm 6th review will be presented to IMF Board on 12th January, 2022.”
Earlier on November 22, the Fund and Pakistan reached a staff-level agreement on policies and reforms needed to complete the sixth review under the $6 billion EFF which has been stalled since April.
In its statement following discussions with Pakistani officials, the IMF had acknowledged the country’s progress in implementing the programme “despite a difficult environment”.
“All quantitative performance criteria (PCs) for end-June were met with wide margins, except for that on the primary budget deficit,” the Fund noted, adding that finalisation of the National Socio-economic Registry (NSER) update, adoption of amendments in the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) Act, notification of all pending quarterly power tariff adjustments, and payment of the first tranche of outstanding arrears to independent power producers (IPPs) were “notable” achievements on the structural front.
However, the agreement is subject to approval by the Executive Board, following the implementation of prior actions, notably on fiscal and institutional reforms, the statement reads, adding that the approval of the agreement will make available $750 million in Special Drawing Rights (SDR), equivalent to $1,059m.
Moreover, the IMF has directed Pakistan to get the amendment bill and finance supplementary bill approved by the parliament in order to get the $1 billion tranche by January 12, 2022.
The government had recently retracted the mini-budget, including the amendment bills, from the federal cabinet after the IMF turned down the government’s proposal to present the budget through a presidential ordinance while the cabinet also did not consider the bills after the economic team apprised the premier about the reservations of different quarters.
On Tuesday, the minister for information had said that the Cabinet Committee on Legislative Cases (CCoLC) would make more changes in the SBP Amendment Bill due to which it has not been finalised yet.
